On 28 June a meeting was held at Central Maine Athletic Club in Lewiston to decide the up-coming year’s schedule and go over any issues that might be a concern.
One issue raised by tournament organizers was being limited to two events. The main concern here was with the women’s divisions having few attendees and the men usually doing two events and then unable to play mixed doubles. Thus a change has been agreed to that will allow players to participate in three events. However we left it to the discretion of the host club, since a deciding factor will be the number of courts and the number of participants. Also, those wishing to play three events must know that they will be playing on Friday night.
A concern for the hosting clubs is the entry fees, which was $25 for two events. It was thought by those attending that this should be raised to $30 for two events and if they offer a third event the cost for this would be $10.
One limiting factor in getting those from the host club to play in their tournaments is the USRA membership requirement cost $35. However it was thought that even if you lowered the cost most still would not play. The vote was to keep pricing as was, but if the host club wanted to offer a special to their members they were welcome to.
Since we are discussing tournament pricing, in the past the juniors have been playing for free. Everyone agree that that playing in these tournaments is similar to other sporting events that they participate in and that we should charge at least a nominal fee, which will be $10.
Of course the major discussion took place in the tournament scheduling, which really boiled down to a schedule similar to last year. One change will be a fundraiser to help offset the cost of Maine Racquetball. The Racket & Fitness Centre in Portland will host this fundraiser.
Tournament Schedule Posted on Web Site (with changes)
Please let me know if you have any questions or issues that should be discussed. We really need to get more people to the tournaments, but of course the budget is limited as to what we can do. I am hoping to visit clubs with racquetball courts and see if we get recruit some players. Maybe we can do mini-tournaments at these clubs. Any thoughts to increase participation would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance